I'm getting better at these reviews.... slowly! Here's to Green!
I'm getting better at these reviews.... slowly! Here's to Green!
Member since:18.08.2005
Reviews:9
I saw Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London a year or two ago. It's a musical, which I generally like, and the songs did not disapoint.
Getting there was a bit tricky - there are obviously bus stops at regular points, but from the tube station at Oxford Street it's a good half mile walk, and down a little side alley to enter the theatre.
We got tickets from one of those West End tickets booths for about £17, which was for fair seats in the Circle.
It starred Linda Nolan as "Mrs Johnstone" and Stephen Palfreman as Mickey. The whole cast is played by adults, and you have to use your imagination to watch the same 30 year old man as a 7 year old grow into his mid-thirties in the space of two hours.
"Blood Brothers" is a play, detailing the story of two male twins separated at birth, whom, in an ironic twist meet years later and become best friends. It follows them through their life, examining their different attitudes
to life and each other, as they get older. The play begins by introducing the audience to one Mrs Johnstone, a separated mother-of-seven with "another on the way." Struggling through a life of poverty in 1960's Liverpool, Mrs Johnstone is horrified to learn she is in fact expecting twins. Knowing that she cannot afford to keep both, after much convincing, the hapless mother is persuaded to give one of the unborn children to her employer, a young, upper-class woman by the name of Jennifer Lyons. With Mrs Lyons' husband away on business for the sufficient nine-month period, the two women know that nobody else will ever learn of the well-meaning but immoral pact. And so we join the play seven years on, with a chance meeting between the two twins. Mrs Johnstone's son has been called Mickey; Mrs Lyons' has been called Edward. The two instantly 'hit it off,' and become blood brothers.
What follows is a relationship which spans their whole lives - unti a chain of events sees Mickey in prison but Edward doing very well at university, to them both dead in their mid-thirties. This is not a spoiler - you see them both dead in the very opening scene.
"Blood Brothers" was written in 1981 by playwright Willy Russell. Born in Whiston, near Liverpool, in 1947, he left school aged fifteen and worked as a hairdresser until he was twenty. He returned to education to complete his learning, and it was about this time that he began to write the first of many scripts and plays. Willy Russell has written a number of well-known plays including "Educating Rita," "Our Day Out," "Stags and Hens" and of course "Blood Brothers." He has become quite well known for his writing, and is today recognised as one of the country's leading playwrights. Russell finds his inspiration in the city he grew up with, Liverpool, and virtually all his plays are based on the area in the period from the nineteen-sixties to the nineteen-eighties, and how the issues such as unemployment and poverty have affected his hometown. "Blood Brothers" is no different.
In his writing of "Blood Brothers" Willy Russell draws upon the ancient Greek concept of tragedy. Laid down by the philosopher Aristotle in his book, "The Poetics," classical tragedy is meant to follow a set of strict guidelines. Firstly, there is the perception of a noble hero or heroine, whose humanity should be just the same as anyone else's - they should have strengths, but also weaknesses - and thus they cannot be wholly good, or wholly bad. This hero should make a "fatal error of judgement," usually due to a flaw in their character, which can be "hubris" (pride). Often, the mistake is made for the best of reasons and with good intentions, but is a mistake nonetheless. It is from this original error that events that are to follow are pre-destined. The fated life will follow a downward spiral of despair eventually leading to the hero's death or death of those around them. From the script of "Blood Brothers" it is very easy to see how it fits in with Greek tragedy. We can see immediately that the heroine is Mrs Johnstone, who in giving one of her children away, is creating the fatal error that sets about the chain of events leading to two of her children dying; we know Mrs Johnstone is neither evil nor perfect. She is simply trying to give one of her children the chance to lead a much better life than he could ever hope to have with her.
Aristotle also wrote that that the nature of tragedy is to create in an audience a "cathartic experience." That is, the audience should feel within them emotions such as pity and fear, despite knowing that the thing they are watching is a "work of art," and not linked to reality. During much of the play, especially in Act Two, the audience undergoes a powerful "cathartic" experience. Watching the author's depiction of Mickey's misery and depression during and after his spell in prison, and also the two twins dying in the final act, many within the audience at the performance I personally saw were moved to tears. In this way you can see the obvious case for the play being an imitation of classic Greek tragedy.
I really enjoyed this - it was an excellent example of how a play can make the audience relate to the characters, and laugh and cry with them. It is depressing at the end, and my 8 year old sister was crying - alas for trying to explain the notion of catharsis to her. There was also a rather funny incident at one point - where Edward proclaims "Well shag the vicar" - we just happened to be sitting next to a dozen or so people in dog collars - I didn't know whether to laugh or cringe. Anyway... enjoy this ... it's brilliant.
Thanks for your comments. I've updated it accordingly.
Lynzie 13.11.2005 11:43
I agree with Sandemp, I found it very long and drawn out and quite difficult to read. You would have got a better overall rating if you had just given little detail about the play and like she said more personal experiance. If you edit it let me know i will be happy to re-rate, Lynz xx
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Nov 12th, 2005
(Nov 13th, 2005)
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